Machine Monsters
by Consumed
Summary: (AU) - The cast have grown up (age about 24) and have become mecha pilots.
1. The millenium units

So this is my first published fanfic (so sorry if the characters are just wrong) and my second attempt at writing a fanfic (my first being an El- Hazard: Jinnai x Groucho love story - I know it's wrong, but they just go so well together)  
  
The rating is just to cover my ass - this first chapter doesn't have any mature content, but it will come.  
  
Dedicated to my baby sister and favourite Yaoi writer Shade25, and conceived from the time I said "I wonder what Ryou's giant mecha would look like": Machine Monsters  
  
Oh and before any of you call me an authoress: I'm a guy, and I'm straight  
  
________________________________________________________  
  
"What are they?" Ryou asked. The two objects were glowing from within the glass cases. One seemed to point toward the other, or at least the energies flowed from one to the other. There was no scientific explanation for this, no tests or even working theories that could explain the two artifacts. Professor Taylor had been working on the objects for some time but this was the first time Yugi and Ryou had been allowed to see them since they arrived. "These are the two relics we discovered in those ruins Joey blew in half during the Egypt project. They seem to be a portable conduit to an unlimited power source." Commander Seto replied.  
  
"We don't know much, but they are an ancient technology which far surpasses our own."  
  
"The Egypt project was over a year ago, why are you showing it to us now?"  
  
"These are what professor Taylor and I used to create the Millenium Units."  
  
"The Millenium Units? The new long term power supply?"  
  
"The Angel Heart and Gaia are being fitted with them tomorrow, then you will test them."  
  
"Is it safe?"  
  
"Perfectly safe."  
  
Seto led them to the second hangar. They had no idea that a second hangar even existed, before them was a girl with medium length brown hair and wearing a skin tight, pink and blue pressurised jump suit. It was clear even to the innocent Yugi that she had padded out the front of her suit and was wearing a corset underneath. "This is Téa, our test pilot and her machine: Magician of Faith." Seto explained. Magician of Faith stood towering over a hundred feet above them in massive steel restraints. "HI GUYS!!." yelled Téa. "She's a pilot?" asked Yugi, to which Ryou responded "We saw her around the base but Joey and I were convinced she's the lunch lady."  
  
"I hope you two don't have any objections to a woman pilot." stated Seto in an even more firm and serious voice than usual  
  
"It's not that she's a woman ..." Yugi and Ryou replied together  
  
"We know the Millenium Units are safe since we tested them in simulated battle conditions in Magician of Faith. You're both far too valuable to put at risk with prototype equipment."  
  
"Why is she kitted out? Is there a test today?" Yugi enquired  
  
"No, I just like how it looks." Téa answered, tipping her head to the left once, briefly as she spoke.  
  
That night, Ryou couldn't sleep. They had spent all day discussing the Millenium Units, the two relics, and how significant they were. It may have been because he would entrust his life to them should he be needed to fight again, or maybe it was something more, but he just couldn't seem to get his mind away from them: What are they? How do they work? Why was it kept a secret for so long? Are they really the new miracle power source they needed? Could he trust them, or the people, his friends and companions who had hidden them for so long? He had to see them again.  
  
Ryou pressed the palmpad to Yugi's room. The door slid open, it was unlocked. The room was dark, but he could see Yugi lying in bed across the room. "Yugi, are you awake?" he whispered.  
  
"Yes, what is it?"  
  
"I couldn't sleep, can I talk to you?"  
  
Yugi sat up and clapped his hands twice. The lights flashed on. He put his hand across his brow, shielding his unprepared eyes from the glare of the hard florescent light. "I have to talk to you - it's about the relics." Ryou said, his figure slowly fading into view as Yugi's eyes adjusted.  
  
"I know, I've been thinking about them too."  
  
"I wonder, is there something we haven't been told?"  
  
"Maybe, what can we do about it?"  
  
"We must return to the lab and see them again."  
  
"If we ask Commander Seto, he might let us."  
  
"Perhaps he will, however if there's something he doesn't want us to know, he'll stop us if we get close to finding it. We should go alone, without authorisation."  
  
"What about security?"  
  
"We'll have to find another way in."  
  
They guessed that the second hanger, which was right next to the lab would be near a launch shaft. They knew that all launch shafts had to be fitted with emergency access tubes and ventilation ducts; it was their best chance to get in and avoid detection.  
  
Yugi went first through the ventilation ducts. The air was much heavier than they were used to, and a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't hard to breathe.  
  
Although Yugi had questioned their current course of action, he was just as, if not more determined than Ryou to see the relics again. He may have wanted to be the voice of reason, but really knew they had to take the risks, after all, their very lives could be at stake.  
  
The lab was illuminated by the glow between the two relics in their glass cases. Yugi and Ryou walked up to the cases and stared at the relics, studying their patterns by the light they were emitting. One was an inverted pyramid, the other was a ring with a triangular mid piece and five cones hanging around the outside, both had the same unusual eye pattern. They eyes almost seemed to move to watch Ryou and Yugi.  
  
Ryou reached through the glass, which silently shattered as his hand passed it and he touched the ring. "Ryou!!" Yugi gasped. The ring was cold metal, but it seemed to have hot streaks leading to the eye. Ryou held the ring with one hand and ran his fingers across the eye. The hot streaks ran between the metal rims and pattern of the relic. The ring was glowing much brighter, pulsing with light as his fingers felt across the heat which was guiding his fingers to the center of the eye. He pushed it in. There was a loud click.  
  
The five cones pointed towards Ryou and the light from the relic turned from a soft white to a deep red. Ryou tightly shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, he was suddenly in excruciating pain, like chunks were being torn out of him. Starting in the stomach, then spreading out slowly to the top of his head, his fingers and his toes, the pain grew, in a circle of agony, leaving behind nothing: his senses were disintegrating.  
  
The relic flew to the floor and he collapsed, breathing heavily as Yugi knocked it from his hand.  
  
The glow from the ring died down to a faint blue. The other relic was glowing brighter than ever.  
  
Yugi knelt down. "Ryou! Ryou are you ok?"  
  
Ryou said nothing, he just lay twitching. Not knowing what to do, Yugi stood and looked at the relic on the floor, and then to the relic remaining in it's glass case. Sparkling coloured lights ran in a brick pattern along the relic and the iris of the eye seemed to turn and close as if focusing on Yugi.  
  
A beam of light shot from the eye of the relic through the glass to Yugi. He leapt to the side and was only struck briefly by the light, he then stepped to the other side of the relic so it's eye was no longer facing him. The relic seemed to shut down: the light fell to nothing and Yugi could barely see by the dim light given off by the other relic laying on the floor.  
  
Ryou, quietly grunting from the pain, began to lift himself up. "Yugi!" he whispered.  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
"No. Where are you?"  
  
"Stay still."  
  
Yugi carefully walked over to Ryou. "Can you walk?"  
  
"I think I can."  
  
Yugi put Ryou's arm around his shoulders and helped him to his feet. They walked together out of the lab.  
  
Back in Ryou's room, Yugi helped Ryou onto his bed. "You should see a doctor in the morning." he said, "We'll talk tomorrow."  
  
"Goodnight."  
  
Yugi walked out and the door slid shut as did Ryou's eyes.  
  
What had happened to him? Would the same thing have happened to Yugi if he had been any slower? Seeing the relics again had brought up more questions than it had answered. Yugi thought long into the night. Yugi did not sleep, he was worried about Ryou, the thought that they had left the lab in disarray and may yet get caught didn't even enter his mind.  
  
The room was fuzzy around Ryou as he woke. Other than being exhausted, he felt normal. For a moment he wondered if it had all been a dream. "Good morning. How are you feeling?" Yugi was waiting for him to wake up "I've made you breakfast."  
  
Ryou could see a lot more clearly. Yugi was standing by his bed and had put a tray on his desk. The food smelled good.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Ryou sat up and moved the warm tray onto his lap.  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"Don't worry, I told Commander Seto that you have a fever. It doesn't matter how long you stay in."  
  
"What!? You spoke to Seto? Did he mention anything about ......"  
  
"Not yet."  
  
. Yugi still had to go to work. The test began at ten hundred hours. Seto watched silently from the viewing room as Yugi walked across the scaffold into the back of Gaia's head. Yugi stepped through the open hatch and sat in the pilot seat. The door behind him closed and the cockpit was briefly pitch black before the controls started to light up. Despite what was happening, and that he was about to test something that had been made from the thing that hurt his friend so badly, he felt calm. He always felt safe in Gaia, he spent most of his time practicing or testing his machine and the cockpit was almost as home to him.  
  
A brief touch of a panel to the left and the viewscreens around him lit up. He could see Seto standing in the glass window across the launch bay, he could see The Angel Heart standing idle in the restraints next to Gaia, and the doors to the maintenance room where Joey's machine: The Flame Swordsman was being repaired.  
  
"Begin launch procedure." Seto said. The huge metal clamps around Gaia's arms and legs moved apart. Yugi gripped the control handles and the giant stepped forward one heavy, earthshaking footstep at a time. The controls felt no different, the motions were as he expected as he walked towards the large door opening before him and into the test area.  
  
The door slammed suddenly behind. Yugi took a deep breath then said "Start test."  
  
A huge model of Two Headed King Rex burst from the ground across the room. Gaia drew it's lance and charged. A push of a switch from Yugi and flechettes of light spiralled from Gaia's hand to the tip of the lance. The lance went straight through the model's chest, leaving a yellow glowing ring around the hole as it withdrew. Gaia then swung down and the tip of the lance cut through the front of the model and it fell open, and to the floor. Then another model sprung up behind. Gaia turned quickly. A stream of glistening fragments flew from the lance and ripped through the model like needle raindrops. Another model appeared. Yugi kept attacking at full power.  
  
Normally, Gaia could only keep working at this level for a little under ten minutes, Yugi kept expecting the low power warnings to come on. The millenium unit worked.  
  
"Commander Seto!" a voice echoed through the command room "It's an emergency."  
  
"What?" he turned around to see a sweaty Professor Tailor panting behind him  
  
"One of the relics is gone."  
  
"Continue the test, I'll deal with this."  
  
After three hours of exertion, Yugi was ordered to end the test. He was then called to the lab. Commander Seto, Joey and Professor Tailor were waiting for him. Broken glass was still on the floor, the Pyramid shaped relic was still in its case but the ring was gone: not where he had knocked it, nor anywhere else in the room. "What happened?" Yugi asked, knowing he was about to be accused.  
  
"Someone has been in here. As you can see, one of the relics is gone." Seto replied.  
  
"It must have been taken last night."  
  
"No-one saw anything, there's no prints. It seems to have just vanished."  
  
"At least we still have this one." stated Professor Tailor, lifting the pyramid shaped relic out of it's case.  
  
The relic started to glow, just as it had done the night before. Professor Tailor dropped it and stepped back. The light got brighter and brighter. The glass case shattered. "LETS GET OUT OF HERE" Professor Tailor yelled. They ran for the reinforced laboratory door.  
  
After a brief moment the light died down. Seto, Yugi, Joey and Tristan had fallen in a heap by the door in their blind struggle to escape. Seto and Joey stared face to face for a moment, with Yugi and Tristan struggling, pinned beneath them, before leaping up in opposite directions. Yugi and Professor Tailor slowly got to their feet.  
  
Standing on the table where the glass case used to be was a naked young man. 


	2. Secrets

They stood, stunned, staring at the slim yet slightly muscular man before them. He looked stern yet a little confused. "What? He looks just like Yugi!" Professor Tailor exclaimed. "Yeah but he's at least six inches bigger." replied Joey.  
  
Commander Seto stepped forward. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"  
  
"I .... ugh ......."  
  
"Any idea who he is, doctor?" Serenity looked up from the computer screen to see the imposing figure of Commander Seto. She had been examining the man, although she had no idea why; she was always just needed to examine or treat people and felt she was always left out of the loop. "He's in good health. Is he a relative of Yugi? They look kind of similar."  
  
This new patient was different, especially the interest Commander Seto was showing in his results. Only once before had she seen him so concerned about someone, and that was when her brother, Joey had been in the accident in Egypt and had severe burns.  
  
"Examine him further. Match his DNA on our database."  
  
She had tried to find out who he is. He had been fairly quiet but compliant yet had not said much and didn't tell her his name. The database was just as revealing.  
  
"I don't understand; he's genetically identical to Yugi."  
  
Commander Seto walked out, then two guards came in and took the man away.  
  
A calm faced Yugi walked into Ryou's room, closed and locked the door, then freaked out. "What is it?" asked Ryou.  
  
"Something really weird happened."  
  
"Did something go wrong with the test?"  
  
"The ring is gone."  
  
"WHAT? Are you sure?"  
  
"And this guy appeared from nowhere."  
  
"Calm down. It's hard to understand you."  
  
"OKAY. Okay."  
  
Ryou walked the panicked Yugi over to his bed and sat him down. "So the ring is gone, what happened next? Has Commander Seto been asking about us?" Ryou felt his insides suck together, he wanted to just grab Yugi and run, run the world away from Seto and the relics. What would happen if they thought him and his friend stole the relics, or helped someone else steal them? Could they be imprisoned or killed or never be able to pilot again?  
  
"After the test, he ordered me to the lab. I think he suspects something. Just then the really weird thing happened. There was this really big flash and this guy just appeared."  
  
"Are you sure? Who is he?"  
  
"I don't know. They said he looks like me."  
  
"We must find out what's happening."  
  
"Right, but that's what got us in trouble to begin with."  
  
"I know" Ryou paused, thinking what had happened to him and what had happened to Yugi, wondering what secrets the relics held. "Was the relic still there after he appeared?"  
  
"You will not believe the day I've had." The door slammed shut. Serenity took of her coat and carefully folded it over her arm before dropping it down next to the door. She walked up to Tristan, who was holding a frying pan over the stove and wearing a floral apron, smelled the aroma of the colourful vegetables he was cooking. "Mmm ... that looks nice." she whispered in his ear. She kissed him on the cheek before slumping down on the couch and turning the TV on. Tristan took the pan off the heat and picked up her coat.  
  
"Bad day was it?"  
  
"I know we can't talk about sensitive stuff, but is Seto always like that?"  
  
"He's under a lot of stress right now."  
  
"Its about that new guy isn't it, the one who doesn't have a name?"  
  
"Honey, you know can't talk about that stuff."  
  
"Where did he come from, who is he?"  
  
"He looks a bit like Yugi doesn't he?"  
  
"Why did Seto have guards escort him? It seems a bit much."  
  
"He could be a spy, or a terrorist. We don't know. We're just being cautious."  
  
"It sounds like he just appeared from nowhere."  
  
"He did, right before my eyes in the lab."  
  
"Now sweetheart, I thought all that cloning stuff was behind us."  
  
Tristan carefully placed two plates on the table infront of Serenity, beautifully presented with the vegatables in the middle of white rice, with half a grilled steak on the side. It looked and smelled perfect.  
  
"No! It has something to do with those things we found in Egypt."  
  
"These things just made him?"  
  
"I know it sounds weird but it's true."  
  
"I hope you won't be studying the things any more, I worry about you sometimes."  
  
"One of them disappeared before I got in this morning."  
  
"So the other one made him?"  
  
"Seto put it in quarantine at least until we know who he is."  
  
"And the millenium project?"  
  
"We're removing the units one by one. It takes so long and we still have to be ready for an emergency."  
  
Serenity giggled "Don't say that, you'll jinx it."  
  
A hand landed on Joey's shoulder. "I thought I'd find you here." Seto said. Joey looked back and brushed Seto's hand from his shoulder before turning back to look ar Mai. She lay deep in a coma in the hospital bed. Instruments beeped rhythmically as a backbeat to the clinical blue and light of the room. Joey sighed "It's my fault you know."  
  
"You always come here when you're worried about something."  
  
"That's none of your business."  
  
"I apologise." Seto walked out, his footsteps echoed in sharp contrast to the sounds of the room "It's okay if you don't want to talk now, I'll speak to you later." Joey watched Mai's face, unmoving as she lightly breathed. "You're the only one I can talk to." Joey sobbed.  
  
Seto watched from behind the door. It had been over a year since the accident, since she had saved Joeys life, but in saving his life, she took his life. Joey returned to see her every day, he could never forgive himself. Joey had grown to need Mai, to confide in her, to share his needs and regrets. It was the kind of dependancy that Seto wished Joey had for him.  
  
A figure appeared from a dark corner of the room. Only its pale hair and a shining golden ring on its chest were visible. It spoke in a deep, rough voice "I expected more from you Atemu."  
  
He stared, stunned "Atemu? Am I ......"  
  
"Lost your memory? This is an interesting development."  
  
"Tell me who you are."  
  
The ring glowed brighter, making its eyes shine in a blank golden light and revealing its masculine pectorals. It laughed as it stepped back into the darkness. Atemu stumbled toward it "You must tell me who I am! Please!"  
  
Ryou put his arm around Yugi's head and held it to his chest. "Calm down. Shhhh." he whispered. Yugi knelt next to Ryou's travel bag with a drawer in his hand. He paused for a moment, still gasping with a wild panicked look in his eyes, then lowered the drawer to the ground. "We've faced tougher things than this."  
  
Yugi looked up. Ryou was now cradling Yugi's head in his arms. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm not much help like this."  
  
"Don't worry, I'm here for you." Ryou gave Yugi a protective kiss on the forehead.  
  
Yugi stared at Ryou's throat. He watched as Ryou's muscles briefly tensed as he kissed him then relaxed as he moved away. "I'm so sorry. You are the one who got hurt, I should be looking after you."  
  
Ryou let Yugi go. Yugi's head dropped limply. Ryou started taking his belongings out of the bag that Yugi had so hastily jammed them in to. He put everything back in place exactly as it was before. Yugi caught his breath.  
  
With two guards struggling to keep pace, Seto headed towards the room in which they kept the mysterious newcomer. It was partly to bury his feelings in his work and partly wanting to vent his frustration on someone that he arranged this unscheduled interrogation. He dramatically swung open the door and appeared in the room as a dark silhouette in the hard light of the corridor outside.  
  
Atemu was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. 


End file.
